SF Giants update: Joe Panik reveals X-ray results

UPDATE, 5:15 p.m.: Joe Panik said X-rays on his dislocated left pinkie were negative. Wearing a splint, Panik said he expects this to be a day-to-day injury based on his pain threshold and cannot say when he will return.

Even if he is good to go when the Giants open a three-game series in Chicago on Tuesday, there is a risk of Panik altering what has been a base-hit swing to compensate for the injury.

“Everything’s going well,” Panik said. “You don’t want any setbacks. Thankfully, as of now, it’s not broken, which is good. You don’t want these things to linger at this point soon.”

Panik showed something to manager Bruce Bochy and his teammates by not begging out of the game even though he knew the pinkie was dislocated. The second baseman said he was “too chicken” to pop the finger back into place. At the same time, he did not want Bochy to burn a pinch-runner.

Head athletic trainer Dave Groeschner popped the digit back into place.

“He’s going great,” Michael Morse said. “He’s really helped us here. He’s proven why he should be here. He’s a big part of this team and organization. Hopefully he’s all right. It’s a good thing we’ve got a day off tomorrow. Hopefully he can heal up. We need him.”

Asked what the Giants need to move on with Panik’s injury, Morse smiled and said, “Have a good doctor, I guess.”

By Henry Schulman

The Giants have begged their fans to have faith that they will escape their nosedive and challenge the Dodgers for the division. The fans rightfully responded by demanding the team show them something – anything – to warrant that faith.

The Giants provided a small down payment over the weekend by winning their first series at AT&T Park in over a month and consecutive home games for the first time in over two months.

They followed Saturday’s big comeback with a 5-2 victory that featured two RBIs by Brandon Crawford, including one of two sacrifice flies in the eighth inning that allowed the Giants to tack on to a 3-2 lead. Andrew Susac also had an RBI single.

Tim Lincecum got his 10th win.

Michael Morse went 3-for-3, started two scoring rallies, went 11-for-14 on the homestand and has reached base in nine consecutive plate appearances in a hitting renaissance the team desperately needs.

Not all the news was good for the Giants. Hot-hitting second baseman Joe Panik had to leave after hurting a finger sliding into second in the eighth inning. He had two hits and raised his average to .282.

Panik advanced to second on a high throw home after he singled with Gregor Blanco on second base. Blanco was not sent home. The Phillies sought a review believing that Panik was out, but the umpires upheld the initial safe call.

Lincecum reached double-digit wins for the seventh consecutive season with one of the greatest five-and-dives ever. He allowed seven hits, four walks and hit a batter while throwing only 51 strikes in 97 pitches. But he allowed only two runs in his five innings and left with a 3-2 lead.

The command that allowed Lincecum to pitch to a 0.30 ERA over four starts in late June and early July is gone.

Javier Lopez struck out three consecutive batters in his 1 2/3 innings, including Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard.

Lopez, Jean Machi and Sergio Romo combined to strike out six straight Phillies in innings six through eight.

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in a 29-pitch first inning that could have been a lot worse for Lincecum, who allowed the first four hitters to reach, two on walks, and fell behind 3-0 to the fifth.

Utley’ triple drove in the run. The inning’s hero was the catcher Susac, whose textbook throw nailed Ben Revere trying to steal second. Revere rarely gets caught, just four times in 38 attempts before that one.

The Royals stole six bases off Lincecum and Susac – mostly Lincecum – in the pitcher’s last game a week earlier.

Revere did steal in the second inning, which ended with Lincecum striking out Rollins on his 50th pitch.

Lincecum took the mound for the third with a 2-1 lead after a huge hit by a slumping player. With two outs and two strikes, Crawford rolled an RBI single into right field. Marlon Byrd’s bad throw allowed a second run to score.

Morse started the rally with another hit to right field, a single. Susac sustained the rally with a two-out single.

The Phillies immediately tied the game 2-2 on Cody Asche’s bases-loaded walk Lincecum’s fourth. Given how well Asche has hit in the series, and Lincecum’s struggles, that might have been the best outcome for the Giants short of an out, because Lincecum was able to strike out the pitcher David Buchanan to strand three.

Buchanan did some scrambling, too.

When Morse, Joe Panik and Susac singled to start the fourth and give the Giants a 3-2 lead, he was in danger of falling seriously behind, but strikeouts of Crawford and Angel Pagan, and a bad Lincecum bunt, kept him in the game.